


Blue Sky

by laundrynapkin



Series: He Lives Fuck You [1]
Category: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Emotional, Gen, Healing, The Kamina Lives AU Nobody Needed, i know him dying is important to the plot but him living is important to me ok, tfw u love ur not-brother so much u come back from the dead for him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 15:35:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21412531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laundrynapkin/pseuds/laundrynapkin
Summary: Kamina is badly hurt in the battle of the Dai-Gunzan but in this universe, he survives.He wakes from a coma, misses his brother, destroys some machinery and eats delicious food!
Series: He Lives Fuck You [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1543609
Comments: 12
Kudos: 39





	Blue Sky

**Author's Note:**

> So long story short, I wasn't able to see Promare in theaters so I did the next best thing and got back into TTGL and now it has taken over my brain. So this happened. 
> 
> I will probably make this into a full blown au series but so far, there's only this fic. Enjoy!

—

_ It just felt like falling. _

_ He didn’t dream. His entire existence was just falling, floating through an endless void, dark and heavy like a blanket of ash. There was - a star twinkling in the distance. A flash. A sudden and jarring awareness. _

And then he woke up.  
  


* * *

  
He had coughed, he thought, and felt something in his throat. He coughed again. It didn’t budge. He did it again, more harshly, and when the thing still didn’t go away, his body acted on its own and sat up, hands going to his mouth, searching for whatever it was. He found a bit of plastic between his lips and pulled, frantic now, feeling it slide out of his throat for an uncomfortably long time, bringing with it a stinging pain deep in his chest and the taste of blood on his tongue. He coughed again, loudly, convulsing with it and it hurt in every part of his body, but oh, it made him feel like he was _ alive _ again.

Kamina opened eyes but wherever he was, it was dark and looked exactly the same as the inside of his eyelids. The air stung in his eyes and he closed them again. He took a deep, wheezing breath, then another, and another, and another. He laid back again, no longer coughing but _ aching _, and curled in on himself, sinking back into unconsciousness before he could even try to stay awake.  
  


* * *

  
This time, he dreamed.

He dreamed of his father, whose face he could no longer remember, of Jeeha village where everybody knew him as the liar’s son, of the surface where his father had died like an animal, presumably only days after leaving Kamina behind.

He dreamed of the sky, the endless blue that his father had once called _the_ _home of the gods _ , the place he was named after. He dreamed of sun and rain and thunder, red-pink hair waving in the wind and a kiss for luck and comfort only hours before the battle that had killed him.

And he dreamed of Simon, his brother in soul and spirit, this vulnerable boy, only a few years younger but with so much more _ potential _ , whom he had sworn to protect but who ended up protecting _ him _ just as often. Simon, who Kamina loved so, so much, more than he loved himself, more than _ Simon _ loved himself. Was he alright? He should be. He had to be, right? Simon couldn’t die, couldn’t be badly hurt. What would Kamina do without him, who would he turn to, who would keep him in check, who would _ know _ him? They were each others’ only family, he had to make sure Simon was okay, he couldn’t be lying here in bed dreaming while his brother was out there, possibly maimed or worse-

He woke with a shout.

This time, his eyes worked better when he opened them. It was still dark, but there were little green diodes barely lighting the air around him. They seemed to come from a collection of machines of some kind, lined up against the wall. One of them beeped. Kamina was grateful there was no weird tube in his throat this time, at least. He threw off the sheet covering his body and swung his legs over the side of the bed, ready to run out and figure out where the hell Simon was— 

And then his legs didn’t work and he fell flat on his face, taking several of the beeping machines down with him and making an absolutely _ absurd _amount of noise.

“Fuck,” he said. It hurt to speak just that one word and now that he had realized that, _ everything _ hurt. Oh god, it hurt. His body felt like it was on fire, the left side of his chest cleaved through with a sword hotter than the sun. Was this what dying felt like? It must be, he already died once but clearly that one didn’t take. This had to be death’s payback for him, he thought, deliriously. He felt tears roll down his face and drip onto the floor. Someone screamed and he was pretty sure it was him.

There was a commotion outside the room, and then people rushed in, voices he recognized speaking. None of it made sense, he couldn’t parse any of what they were saying. He was being manhandled back on the bed, something soft wrapped around his chest and a cloth wiping at his forehead. Lights were turned on and it made everything worse, made him squeeze his eyes shut until they hurt too. Head pounding, feeling like it was going to burst. A noise halfway between a sob and a whimper worked itself out of his throat and at any other time he’d be ashamed to sound like that but right now, it matched exactly how he felt. Pathetic and hurt.

Someone was saying his name.

“Yeah,” he replied before even really thinking about it. His voice came out a raw whisper.

“Kamina.”

“Yes…”

“Open your eyes, come on, look at me, stay here…” 

He did.

There was a girl, her face incredible close to his, her eyes huge and wet, glittering with all the green lights. He knew her. What was her name? Yoma… Yoko?

“Yoko. Yoko,” he said, slow and painful, and she threw herself at him with a sob, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and cried and cried and it hurt where she touched him but it was a good hurt, an _ alive _ hurt. Someone pulled her away, told her his wounds could open again and to be careful with hugs and she went willingly but not far. She held his hand too tightly in both of hers. He could feel them shaking.

He felt a sharp stab in his leg and when he looked, a tall man held a syringe briefly, before disposing of it. The syringe must have contained some sort of painkiller because only seconds later, the pain in his body dissipated almost completely, leaving him feeling boneless and floaty and with only a slight ache where before he felt like his chest was split open. He let out a sigh, a long shaky breath he didn’t realize he had been holding, feeling all the tension bleed out of his body.

His mind felt a little clearer. Now he could actually _ think _ and not only feel pain pain pain. 

Kamina looked around the room. There were at least ten people in here, all of whom he recognized but his thoughts were slow like molasses and only a few names would come to him. There was Yoko, sitting on the bed next to him holding his hand. The tall man with the syringe was… Leeroy? Ron. Leeron. Then there was a blonde woman, her name was something with K, and her sisters, also K-something, and her brother, another K-something. A man with dark skin and worried brows, Kamina couldn’t think of his name. A few other people whose names escaped him and… 

No Simon.

Please, no. 

Where was he? Was he alright? Kamina was ready to jump out of bed again (and probably re-reopen his wounds too) and go look for him but he couldn’t really do it with Yoko sitting so close. Instead he looked around one extra time just to be sure. No Simon.

“Where’s Simon,” he asked and, god, why did his voice sound like that? Thick and raspy like he hadn’t used it in years. How long had he been out for?

“He’s asleep,” Leeron said, snapping Kamina out of his thoughts. “He’s been… Pushing himself while you were laid up and now he’s having a much needed nights sleep.”

He was alive. Thank god. Kamina closed his eyes for a second and silently sent his gratitude to whatever being could hear him for keeping Simon alive.

“Is he… Alright? Did he get hurt?” Please let him be alright, please, please— 

Leeron frowned. “Only mentally,” he said, sighing. “As I said, he’s been pushing himself. Hopefully now that you’re awake he can start to heal too. I just hope he can go back to his usual self. The battle and aftermath has taken a toll on his mental health.” Kamina considered this. His brother was alive, not physically hurt, but traumatized. He could work with that. He would support and uplift Simon as much as he could, like always.

His eyelids felt incredibly heavy all of a sudden and the room was undulating like they were underwater. He closed his eyes and lay back against the pillow and could feel himself sink under again almost immediately. “Thank you,” he breathed out, to no one in particular. Maybe just to the universe, for letting them both live. That was, selfishly, all he had really cared about.

* * *

Kamina drifts in and out of consciousness for a while, with no way to tell how much time passes. He thinks he hears people arguing at one point, and later distantly feels fingers brush over his face, but both could just as well have been half-formed dreams or nearly forgotten memories. Mostly he just sleeps and sleeps and sleeps, feeling like a rock at the bottom of an ocean of thick, black darkness.

Then he smells food. And realizes how _ goddamn hungry _ he is.

“Who’s cooking,” is the first thing he says, voice like rusty nails. Then, “What are they making?”

A gasp next to him. Kamina turns his head.

“Hey, forehead boy.”

“It’s Rossiu,” Rossiu says.

“Who’s cooking?” he asks again. “That smells so good, I’m hungry as hell.”

Rossiu looks pained. “Ah, that’s— that’s Nia. Her food is horrible but Simon loves it so we let her cook for him. Don’t eat it.”

“Nia?” That’s not a name he recognizes.

“Oh, she’s, uh… It’s hard to explain,” the boy sighs, looking like he’s going to try explaining it anyway.

Kamina waves his hand dismissively at him.“Food first, then I’ll hear about her. Actually—” he sits up, slowly stretching his limbs, checking if anything hurts an extraordinary amount. Nothing does. “I’ll just go out there and catch up with Simon and she can tell me about herself while I eat! Good plan.”

Rossiu jumps up. “You can’t just go out there! You’re still hurt!”

“I don’t care, I’m hungry!”

“You’ll open your wounds again!”

“A real man doesn’t let something like that stop him!”

“Also, you really shouldn’t eat her food if you value your life!”

Kamina grins. “Now, see, forehead boy, that just sounds like a challenge to me.”

“It’s really not—”

The door slams open, making them both jump. 

“Rossiu, what’s—” The man in the doorway pauses. Then he barks out a laugh and smiles brightly. “Ah, the fearless leader is awake! Have a good nap?”

Kamina frowns, trying to remember the man’s name. He’s the brother of the K-sisters, Kamina knows, but the name eludes him.

“Kittan!” Rossiu says, disapproving. There’s the name, thank you, forehead boy. “Don’t slam the door.” Kittan just laughs. 

“Why were you yelling, anyway?” He asks.

“Because I’m fucking hungry and this stick in the mud won’t let me go eat!” 

“I just don’t want you bleeding half to death _ again _ because you thought you were completely fine when you’re not!” Rossiu says, indignantly. Kamina looks at him and thinks it over. The kid _ is _a huge stick in the mud and Kamina really wants to go eat but… Rossiu has a point, he thinks begrudgingly. 

He grumbles wordlessly. His stomach growls too, as if on cue.

Kittan makes a noise of consideration from where he stands in the doorway. “I could bring some food in here for you. You don’t wanna eat Nia’s cooking, though, that stuff is poison. I don’t know how she does it, but that girl hasn’t made _ one _ edible thing since she got here.” He laughs again, “Simon scarfs it down, though. Kid must have a belly of steel!”

That’s the second time they’ve mentioned Simon and Kamina’s heart hurts with how much he suddenly misses the boy. It feels like he hasn’t seen Simon in _ years._

“Can you…” He trails off. Starts again. “Can I see Simon?”

Kittan is quiet for a while. “Yeah,” he finally says, “It’s probably about time. He hasn’t been doing well but meeting Nia got him back on the right track, at least. I’ll bring him here.” He motions for Rossiu to follow him and they leave Kamina alone for what is probably ten minutes at the most but feels like _ hours _ to him.

Then there’s a knock on the door.

“Yes,” Kamina says, voice suddenly thick in his throat. Why is he nervous? It’s just Simon, his beloved little brother, seeing him shouldn’t make him feel so anxious. But it does. The door opens and Simon walks in, dark bags under his eyes, looking forlorn and carrying a small pink bundle of cloth.

“Aniki,” he says quickly, sounding just as nervous as Kamina feels, “Um, I brought you food! Kittan said not to but he also said you were hungry, so I brought it anyway. Nia cooked it! You haven’t met her yet but she’s really good at cooking! Um, here!” He holds out the bundle and sits down on the chair Rossiu was occupying earlier.

The bundle has different kinds of food inside it and Kamina has no idea what any of it is but it smells _ delicious _. He picks up something with a weird, green color and an unnaturally square shape and takes a bite.

It _ tastes _delicious too.

“This is so good,” he says, mouth full. “Thank you, Simon!”

Simon smiles slightly. “Right? The others don’t seem to like it, though.”

“They _ clearly _ don’t know good food like we do,” he says, picking up another piece of whatever it is. “Jeeha village food-knowers, that’s us!”

* * *

All in all, the food is gone too fast for Kamina’s tastes but he is sated for now, at least. 

Simon still looks unhappy.

There is a long stretch of silence. 

Then Simon looks at him from where he’s seated and Kamina’s heart drops when he sees the boy’s eyes well up with barely held back tears. “Aniki,” Simon says, voice wavering, “I’m. I’m so sorry, I—” And then the dam bursts and he starts sobbing outright and Kamina wants to cry too. He shuffles closer to Simon and wraps his arms around him in a hug. What on earth Simon could have to be sorry for, he doesn’t know, but he’ll be damned if he won’t try to comfort the boy to the best of his abilities.

“It’s my fault,” Simon chokes out, “I almost got you killed, I—” 

Kamina opens his mouth to protest the absolutely ridiculous idea, but Simon speaks again.

“I saw you kiss Yoko,” he sobs into Kamina’s shoulder, “and I couldn’t stop thinking about it, I couldn’t concentrate and that’s why I was so distracted and—” He sounds almost hysterical by now and Kamina’s shoulder is all wet, he needs to turn this around.

  
“Nah,” he says, tact incarnated.

“Huh?”

“You didn’t almost get me killed, I almost got myself killed. That wasn’t your fault, Simon.”

Simon shakes his head wildly, flinging tears. “Yes it was!” He almost yells, “If I hadn’t been—”

Kamina sighs, grabs the boy’s shoulders and pushes him back so they can be eye to eye.

“Hey,” he says, voice soft. “No use thinking about what _ could _ have happened, right? That’s not how we do it in the Dai-Gurren Brigade, you know.” Simon looks like he’s about to say ‘but—’ so Kamina intercepts him, “No buts! I’m alive, you’re alive, the rest of the crew are alive, that’s all that matters to me.” He touches his forehead to Simon’s and smiles, closes his eyes, “You think too much, Simon.”

“I know,” Simon says, still shaking, “I know.”

They stay like that for a while, just breathing and _ being _, but eventually Kamina’s curiosity wins out and he has to ask. “So, uh… Where the hell are we anyway?”

“Oh! We’re aboard the Dai-Gun—, uh, the Dai-Gurren! It’s huge, we all have our own rooms, with spares!”

“So we did it? You combined with it and we took it?”

“Yeah!”

“Hell yes!” Kamina shouts, triumphant, and punches the air. “I knew you could do it, Simon! Those beastmen must be quaking in their boots now!”

Simon smiles, genuinely this time.

They sit in comfortable silence for a while. “You know, I wouldn’t even have minded,” Kamina then says. “Dying, I mean.” Simon looks at him. “I thought I was going to die and I just felt... Fine with it. I knew I was leaving you in charge of things and… That was reassuring.”

“Me?” Simon looks incredulous.

“Yeah. I’m glad I lived, but if I hadn’t… I know you would’ve picked up my slack.”

“I couldn’t be the leader of anything, Aniki… You should probably pick Yoko or Kittan as your second-in-command instead—”

“Nonsense, Simon! It has to be you!” Kamina says, smacking the boy on the shoulder hard enough that he makes a noise and folds over.

“But _ why _?! Why do you have so much faith in me?” Simon looks almost desperate, like he really can’t understand what Kamina sees in him. And maybe he can’t, Kamina realizes. He’ll just have to spell it out, then.

“Because! You have faith in _ me _ ! And seeing you believe in me, makes me believe in myself! And when you can’t believe in yourself, _ I’ll _ believe in you and make you believe in you too!” He shouts it out, complete with gestures for emphasis. Some part of him is aware that what he’s saying doesn’t make a ton of sense but that doesn’t matter. ‘Sense’ was never something he had much of and Simon seems to understand him anyway, that’s the important thing.

Speaking of Simon, he looks like he’s about ready to cry again. He doesn’t look … Unhappy, though.

“Thank you, Aniki,” he says, voice a whisper.

“Thank _ you _, Simon.” Kamina whispers back. 

He lies back against the pillow, suddenly feeling exhausted all the way down to his bones. It’s a satisfying feeling though. He knows it will take him a while to be fit for fighting again, he’ll be holed up here for months to come and he’s probably going to go stir crazy in the meantime, but… He still has his life, his friends, his crew and his brother, all safe and sound.

He’ll be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Does anyone still care about this show???? Please, if you do... Come say hi @doppiocrimes on twitter!


End file.
